Paul Risker reviews the twelfth episode of Sons of Anarchy season 5…
Recently I recruited a master spy and sent him deep behind enemy lines to uncover some juicy season six spoilers. Okay this is a little exaggeration on my part. Truth be told, he just “Googled” Sons of Anarchy Season 6 rumours.
Kurt Sutter’s confirmation that Tara will be seeing the inside of a jail cell in season six undermines the anticipation of the outcome of one storyline for UK viewers, and suggests that Jax and Tara’s escape is unlikely to come any time soon.
Tara, who is set to see the world through iron bars, and experience as Sutter recently hinted at via Twitter, “a girl-on-girl-on-sort-of-girl lovefest,” encapsulates the words of the legendary Undertaker. “Sometimes it is hell trying to get to heaven.”
But Sutter’s revelations for the UK audience leave us to wish rather than hope that certain characters could save Tara from such a fate, left to await the inevitable.
If one was to predict a sudden spike in the Sons of Anarchy ratings, would you call them insightful or pointing out the damned obvious? Probably the latter, as promises of the beautiful Tara Knowles’ sexual experimentation is sure to pique the interest of those who choose their films and television shows by such criteria. Don’t think I am judging – each to their own.
For the preceding weeks, if not the entirety of season five to date, the focus has been on Jax versus Clay. Despite the various twists of the Galindo Cartel’s plan to usurp Jax’s position at the head of the table, Clay’s talk of peace and no longer desiring the seat he once held, in the penultimate episode Darthy, we return to where season four concluded and season five commenced: Jax versus Clay.
Conflict in Sons of Anarchy almost fizzles out, evolving into new conflicts, each resolution intertwined with a sense of desperation as a new conflict is born. There is no peace for this set of protagonists, coming through each crisis only to have to immediately deal with another crisis. What marks Sutter out as a solid storyteller is the willingness to let the drama lead into new dramas, not necessarily punctuated with an explosion at the summit of the crescendo, but rather the drama deriving from the ever expanding tangled web, woven across the course of almost five full seasons now.
This week’s episode is no different as Jax’s attempt to re-structure the arms deal with the Galindo Cartel goes south, and despite an exciting though minor action scene, it evolves to bring Jax and Nero to a second partnership agreement, neutralising the potential for an explosive conclusion in the traditional sense between SAMCRO and Galen.
The Sons of Anarchy tangled web has become an oppressive underworld of constant chaos and desperation. In Darthy we arrive at the point of division, Clay pitching to Irish King right-hand man Galen his intent to pick up the gunrunning Jax is handing off piece by piece to Lin.
The end-game is slowly coming together, Jax close to accomplishing his father’s unrealised goal of extricating SAMCRO from the gunrunning business. At the start of the episode, Jax writes in his diary, accompanied by voiceover, “Today I will be the man my father tried to be, I will make you proud.”
Beyond this success, Jax’s day is otherwise a failure, begun when the reason for Bobby’s mysterious late night visit to Clay at the end of the previous episode is revealed. The unanimous vote for Clay to lose his patch goes to plan, but the second vote to have Clay meet “Mr. Mayhem” is thwarted by Bobby’s sole “Nay.”
The penultimate episode in the fifth season is a significant moment in Sons of Anarchy, especially in light of Bobby’s disagreement of crossing the Lobo’s a few episodes back. Sutter has identified Bobby as SAMCRO’s protector. In a powerful speech in defence of his actions he tells Jax, “You couldn’t prove shit. We both know that. And there’s no way you could let Clay sit at this table, me either. The shit he’s done, he needed to go away. If I didn’t make this deal you would have killed him as soon as we were finished with Galen, and you would have done it behind the club’s back, and it would have eroded the club.”
A further revelation of interest in Darthy was Nero’s admission to Jax that he could have afforded the farm house a year ago, only he wasn’t ready to step away from it all. Jax’s inquisition of Nero’s urgency for him to accelerate his end game reveals a future mirror image of Jax. Nero is his older self, a warning of how by waiting too long, one never escapes the life. With the tendency for resolution to breed conflict, one is left to wonder if there will ever be an opportune moment for Jax to vacate his seat. His family and SAMCRO have become intertwined, and now with Tara set to land in jail and the loyalty to club and family that runs deep, their future escape seems ever more doubtful.
A burning question remains which will not be settled until the season finale, introduced at the start of Darthy when Jax promises to deliver Pope to Tig tomorrow. The question remains, will Jax turn over Tig?
As is typical in Sons of Anarchy, it is unlikely to be a yes or a no answer, Sutter undoubtedly set to use this question to powerful effect, the repercussions of which will be felt throughout the coming sixth season. But then this is Sutter, and one thing we should have learned by now is expectations and the future is more often than not worlds apart. One suspects however that Tig will live, seeking refuge with Clay, even joining Clay on his trip to Ireland to lay low. Of course if that does happen the truce between Jax and Pope will reach an abrupt and violent end.
Twelve down, one to go.
Paul Risker is co-editor in chief of Wages of Film, freelance writer and contributor to Flickering Myth and Scream The Horror Magazine.
Originally published April 25, 2013. Updated November 6, 2019.
